Why You Are Mine
by GoWithTheFlo20
Summary: Bella doesn't believe in fairy tales anymore, but she does believe in him...And the neon lights of Santa Carla boardwalk. Bella's going on a trip to neverland, will she find her Peter Pan, or someone infinitely more darker? Multi Chapter, PAUL/BELLA AU.
1. Exploding Frogs

AN- So this is set in twilight sagas time zone, a year after Edward has left. The whole Emmerson/ Frog brothers will be explained through out the story. However, i have added Angela to this story, she is important for a few of the plot points but to be honest she has grown on me and i really just don't want to kill her off. So either Bellas ( once she knows whats going on) is going to try and get Angela away, or Angela will be paired up with one of the other boys, who? I have no clue, so if you guys have any ideas on who you would like to see her with, give us a PM or drop it in a review :)

The reason i have taken so long to carry on with my stories is because like always, life got in the way. But on the plus side, i have another two coming out after these two. All lost boys crossovers with twilight. So as a thank you to everyone who has stuck by, heres a few hints of whats going to go down in each one.

PAUL/ BELLA (this one) - Cold ones.

DWAYNE/ BELLA - The wolf pack.

MARKO/ BELLA - The emmersons and frog brothers.

DAVID/BELLA - Cold ones, wolves, volturi, Emmersons, Frog brothers, amnesia, time travel. (because if any vampire can take on all that and come out in the end, it's going to be David.) **Cry Little Sister** is my David/ Bella story but its getting re-vamped. as you can tell, the plots pretty complecated and i want to give you the best possible version of any of my writing. So please bare wih me.

 **I will only be writing two stories at a time, the first being PAULS AND DWAYNES so i can keep up to date with my posting schedule and not get blocked behind writing four stories on the go. That would just be a mess.**

With all that said and over with, please enjoy and review! It feeds my starving muse and let's me know if you guys are liking the way it's going.

-GoWithTheFlo20

 **DISCLAIMER- I own no recognizable character or places wrote in this fanfiction, this is all for fun. I am simply playing with other peoples toys.**

WARNING- CRUDE LANGUAGE, UNDERAGE DRINKING (IF YOURE AMERICAN) AND AN EXPLODING FROG.

* * *

Not many things put Bella on edge, but this was one of the times she could practically feel the enamel of her teeth crack under the pressure of her clenched jaw. She had enough people telling her that she had no self preservation instincts.

She couldn't help it. Situations normal, rational people felt terrifying didn't really phase Bella Swan. Her mother, when she was around, had told her how unpredictable she was in that aspect. What people found scary, Bella found fascinating. What people found upsetting, Bella normally laughed at. What other people found aggravating barely bleeped on her emotional radar.

It was pointless trying to second guess how she would react to a situation, even when it was herself doing the guessing. That's why when Edward hauled her into the woods for a theatric break up, instead of being hit with crippling sadness, tears and redundant begging, Bella found herself growing soundlessly livid.

Ever since she had stepped her boot clad feet on dreary Forks soil, she could see candidly. She was out of the fog she had found herself suffocated in. The urge to beg was on the tip of her tongue, ready to burst from her mouth, when she snapped too. She had never begged before in her life, why the hell was she about to start now?

sluggishly, little inconsistencies linked together in a foreboding dot to dot. She had let these people tell her how to act, how to dress... For fuck sake she had even let Edward tell her what to say and when to say it. That was not like her at all, and the realization of the loss of power, of control of her own self, felt like a sucker punch to the gut.

She had always been independent, had to be with parents like hers. Renee alone was more of a child than she had ever been. Often running off and playing out half thought out fantasies in hopes of finding the pot of gold at the end of her rainbow.

Charlie had always been distant and disconnected, throwing himself head first into his work to get away from the dog fight that masqueraded as his and Renees divorce. Even after all these years, he had never been able to climb back out into the world again.

Edward had told her, warned her. Everything about that was a trap meant to lure in their prey. Their voices, their looks, even their smell. With gut churning deduction, she realized how much of a poor and flimsy excuse Edward had used to explain his nightly visits. Climbing into her room while she slept to help ' acclimatize himself' to her scent. She didn't doubt it was to do with smell, just not hers, she knew that now.

The real juicy bait on the disguised hook for Bella was the mirage of a family. She remembered being young and walking home from school because Renee had forgotten once again, standing there and watching the other kids and their families around her. The children running to their moms and dads, laughing and joking with their siblings.

Little Bella could, and would, imagine herself in their place. lightheartedly laughing as it was HER being twirled around in the air, HER who got asked how her day was, HER who got hugs and kisses hello. It was a dream she had never been able to fully shake off.

Edward and the Cullens had used that to their advantage. Playing her like a marionette by dropping what she wanted most inches from her face, but still evermore out of her reach. It was sick, all of this, them, the situation, the way she had sat back and let it unfold. It all made her feel ferociously ill.

Changing herself, her core, her very soul, was not the answer to obtain a childhood dream. Not when that dream came with so many contingencies and rules attached to its pretty package.

Edward must have taken her disengaged silence and inner monolog as distress and shock. Before she could speak, set him straight, he had already leaned over, placed an frosty kiss to her forehead like she was a child, and zoomed off in a flurry of leaves and a dulled blur of colors. Leaving her in the middle of no mans land in a quickly dimming woods.

Bella recognized all this must have been another stage in the game he made. A play to see how much power he had over her. Like training a dog, leave the house for a few hours and see how it would react when the owner came back, see what it had been up to while he was away.

Bella broke. Fuck Edward, fuck Alice, fuck the Cullens and everybody else who had walked all over her. She was better than them, better than this. This would not break her. She had raised herself, looked after her parents from a tender age, worked hard for everything she had ever owned, for goodness sake, she had survived James and his sick game. She could survive this. This person they had tried to morph her into was not her, never would be.

 _She would eventually find her place, all she had to do was wait_. A concise voice in the back of her mind piped up. And if not? Well Bella had always been good for looking after herself and being on her own. With iron wrought determination, Bella set off to get back to Charlie house, head held high.

* * *

The next few months for Bella were a hard pill to swallow despite the revelations and her determination. She felt sick inside, the problem was no one else could see. Even with the knowledge all this with Edward was more than likely a big elaborate plan, still a part of her heart felt wounded because she had cared for him. The icing on the cake was she didn't know whether these were her feelings or the residual result of some vampire voodoo she knew the Cullens could pull.

Still she soldiered on, like she had done with every other hurdle in her life. Painted on a smile and carried on walking with her head held high. It was either that or lay down and give up, Bella Swan wasn't a quitter and she refused to bow down to a group of bored immortals and their mind fuckery.

Day by day, the bite of betrayal and the cloying smoke of being used evaporated. She didn't shed a single tear, getting comfort in the knowledge that they didn't deserve them. She knew it wasn't all the Cullens fault, she had willingly let them attach the strings, most of her anger was aimed at herself for letting it happen. For not seeing sooner what it was.

However she was young, and she would grow. She had the whole world at her finger tips, so many choices and pathways she could travel down. So many opportunities to take, she would always remind herself of this when she felt the sadness and anger hanging over head like a storm cloud. This wasn't the end, no, this was her beginning and she was the author of her own story.

She wasn't the first person to be hurt, not by a long shot. Life had a funny habit of slapping people in the face with life lessons. She was but one of the many that learned that not everything that glitters is gold, quite literally in her situation.

With baby steps, she hustled through and got back to herself. And for once in her life, she was happy with who she was. She didn't wish to be more graceful, more athletic or taller. She didn't wish to find somewhere to belong, when the time was right, Bella was sure that the somewhere would find her.

Yes, she was clumsy, awkward, had the habit of saying or joking about the wrong thing at the wrong time and she was still more on the tomboy side of things. It's what made her, her. She wouldn't ever try and change that for a dream or anybody again.

The more confidant she got within her own skin, the more laid back she became. What will happen, will happen and she would face that when it reared its head. No sooner or later. There was no seconding guessing or trying to out plan life, it was fruitless.

There was no fast track button to happiness, it either came or it went. The only thing Bella realized she could do was enjoy the moments when it was there. She wasn't perfect, she knew that but her imperfections were as much a part of her as her brown eyes and hair. In the end, she could have turned out a lot worse than she had.

Bella was right and Edward was wrong. She would never forget. Not out of anger or resentment, but because in some twisted way the Cullens had helped her center herself. Of course she wished she had done that with out the whole mind juju and James fiasco, but it did nail the point home and then covered the coffin in cement.

Once the anger had passed, it was easy not to forget, but to nudge back all the bitter memories. To not have them swirling around her mind day and night, thinking about what ifs or should haves. In a way, it was like her own personal goodbye, not that any of them deserved one but it made things infinitely more easier to put into perspective.

It was easy looking in from the outside and then to point out the flaws. It was a whole lot harder to do that from the inside. Yes she had made mistakes, she stood by them and owned up, but that didn't give anybody else the right to dictate her life. It was her life to live and dammit, live it she would.

She had been hard on herself for far too long. Trying to add up to the two dimensional people around her. At the end of the day, she would judge herself because she was the only one who had to live with the decisions she had made. She wouldn't try to mold herself into something to fit into a life she actually didn't want to be a part of. It was redundant, a snake eating its own tail, it would only lead her to her own destruction.

She wasn't stupid either. She knew she would make more mistakes, have more falls. That was just the way it was. But she would pick herself up, brush it off and carry on. It was those mistakes and trips that would make life interesting. How boring would everything be if everything was rainbows and clear skies?

She would never appreciate the good times when they rolled by if that was the case. It was exciting, knowing something might come your way but not knowing what that thing was. Exhilarating in the fact that you either came out the other side, or went down swinging.

Some days she still felt weary, like her bones were made out of fragile spun glass and she was the only one standing by her side. But like a coin, it gave her strength. Not many people could say they had been through what she had and honestly say they had come out a better person. She was still standing, she wasn't out for the count yet.

She had seen first hand what bitterness and bad blood could do to a person. Renee always living in fantasy land and Charlie with nothing but his work and fishing holidays. She would never let herself turn into that person. She would take this in, learn from it and move on. She wouldn't be trapped in the past because she couldn't bring herself to try and fight out of it.

Learn, let go, move on. Bit by bit, she did just that. She was all the more better for it, she had never smiled, laughed and been so happy in her whole life. So what if she was by herself? Her happiness didn't depend on other people, she didn't have the right to push that on others, it belonged to her. She would never let any one try and control her thoughts or feelings again, hellfire would rain down first.

* * *

School had become torturous for Bella. Shy, reserved Bella hadn't fit in, Bella with no reservations or cares of reception didn't stand a chance. She had always been socially inept, there was no running from or denying that fact. Unfortunately she had inherited both her fathers blunt speech and her mothers dark humor and inability to realize when to shut the hell up.

She may have been able to form friendships if she had one or the other, but mixed together was a deadly toxin to ever forming any real connections. If they weren't warded off by her blunt questions or rebuffs, they sure ran for the hills when she truly opened up.

Not many people could understand her humor, her lack of interest in clothes, make up or boys. Or generally in anything her age group would identify with. In short? When the novelty of a new toy wore off, they were gone before the smoke had cleared.

Bella was used to it since she had moved into her fourth elementary school. It's why Angela had come as such a shock. She had exchanged pleasantries before with the girl, but it had never gone any further. Opening up wasn't in her skill set, and after the Cullens, it had only gotten worse.

When a new seating plan had been set up in biology, placing Angela as her desk partner, Bella had neither been upset or happy. She was only relieved when she wasn't placed with Jessica, Lauren or Mike Newton.

This semester, they had moved onto dissection and anatomy structures of reptiles and amphibians. The two girls politely said hello, but quieted and got down to business when the limp, dead frogs on metal trays were placed in front of them.

The first task, according to the chicken scratch on the board, was to skin the little things and take notes of the muscle structure you could observe, when suddenly, Bella had a brain wave. Well, what seemed to be a brain wave at the time.

In their little set of dull scalpels and tweezers, they had given each student a two way pump to help get rid of any blood, mucus or other bodily fluids from their projects. Bella had never been good at small fiddley tasks, having the hand eye co-ordination of a toddler would do that to you. Skinning a frog was the definition of small and fiddley. So Bella came to the wrong decision of trying to make the little thing bigger before she even contemplated touching it with a scalpel.

No one took any notice of her when instead of picking up the scalpel like the rest of her classmates, Bella opted for the pump. No one noticed when she place the pumps nozzle into the frogs throat and pumped in the air. If the teacher had just looked up for one second, a whole lot of mess could have been avoided that day.

Bella would be the first to put her hands up and admit she should have stopped on the fifth pump, but logically, the bigger she got it the easier it would be to skin, well at least in Bellas mind it was logical.

Just as she was pushing in the seventh pump, multiple things happened at once. Angela looked up from leaning of her specimen, eyes growing wide when she clocked Bellas frog, Jessica and Lauren, who were sitting in front of them, turned around to say something to Angela, only to grow alarmed once they spotted Bella and her ever growing frog and worse of all, Bellas frog decided right then and there to explode.

Unfortunately, the frog was aimed in Jessicas and Laurens direction, making bits of it go flying their way like a horrific party popper. They managed to cover their goggled faces in time, but the same could not be said for their unlucky hair.

The loud pop had all the students and teacher snap their way, Jessica and Lauren screeched like banshees and after a few moments of complete shock, all Bella could do was double over and laugh.

Funny enough, one other person joined her in her hysterics, Angela. Once the two had started laughing neither could stop, not even as their sides cramped and tears started making appearances. Bella still couldn't stop her laughter even when the teacher simultaneously tried to console a freaked out Jessica and Lauren, and scolding Bella.

That day had solidified Jessicas and Laurens distaste for Bella, but it was also the start of a friendship with Angela.

* * *

Bella tried to dip and dodge the roaming teens in the cafeteria, determined not to be bumped into and have her food and dignity dropped to the floor. After some shoving and near misses, she made it to her table in one piece, plonking herself down in the stiff metal chair opposite Angela. The girl in question gave her a warm smile once she spotted a frazzled looking Bella.

"So any plans for spring break?"

Bella sighed and picked up her plastic fork, poking the gelatinous mass the lunch lady had assured her was pizza. Thinking better of it, she dropped her fork down onto the tray and reached for her apple. Taking a bite and swallowing before answering Angelas question.

"Not really thought about it, most likely just relaxing at home. What about you?"

Angela dusted her hands off on her jeans and pushed her tray away from her. Bella didn't blame her, this stuff barely passed for pig feed, let alone human consumption.

"My dad owns a beach hut in California. All you need is a suitcase and some cash for the attractions. Please tell me you'll come?"

Bella knew Angela was purposefully missing something out by the way her eyes kept shifting, never fully meeting her eyes.

"What aren't you telling me?"

Angela sagged back into her seat before looking at Bella with a defeated 'kicked puppy' look.

"Ben was meant to be coming but i saw... Well... He's going to be out of town, something about promising to visit his grandmother for her birthday. Come on, don't you miss the sunshine? Coming from Phoenix and all, i just don't want to go by myself. Partying alone sounds pretty pathetic."

Bella wasn't buying it, but she wouldn't push. Angela would tell her when she was good and ready to. Something had upset Angela, enough for it to show on her face. Angela was normally so laid back that nothing really bothered her. So whatever that had happened, was big.

Angela had been the first person in Forks who she could truly call a friend. Scrap that, the first person in a really long time she could call a true friend. She stuck by Bella even through her mopey period and when she still had off days where all she did was snap and be sassy to anything that even moved her way. Angela never asked questions, never complained, just being there and letting her know she was there if she needed her. By the look on Angelas face, she needed Bella there for her now, and Bella was more than willing to repay Angelas kindness.

Over the past year since the Cullens abrupt departure, Angela had became her friend, Bella had become more comfortable in herself, in her own misgivings and her confidence had grown. That was partially owed to Angela actually sticking with her, she owed her this.

She also did miss the sun and beaches. The life that just seemed to buzz around places like that was addictive, seeping into yourself until you felt more alive. Renee used to say she should act her age, what was more her age than going on a road trip and partying? The more she turned the idea over in her head, the more appealing it got. Letting her hair down and letting loose seemed to be exactly what the doctor ordered, for both of them.

"Yeah, that is pretty pathetic. We can't have that can we? Topping up on vitamin D sounds great, especially with this constant rain. So where in sunny California are we headed?"

Angela beamed at her as she pushed her pink glassed up her nose with her thumb, leaning forward and resting her elbows on the table.

"Just this small beachy tourist place called Santa Carla. You're not going to regret it Bella."

* * *

That's how Bella found herself sitting in the passenger seat of Angelas Ford, their suitcases packed tightly in the back, humming and bobbing her head along to the song that was rattling on the cars radio. The wind from all the rolled down windows was making the curls that hand fallen out from her bun dance around her face.

The sixteen hour drive from Seattle to Santa Carla had been a bitch on both of them, making the two girls pull over every few hours to swap over who was driving and who was resting. Both had been determined in the beginning to get there in one go, now Bella was ruing their decision as her legs cramped in the small car. The last chance they had to stretch and have a break was back when they swapped over in Sacramento. That seemed like a lifetime ago.

The closer they got to their destination, the hotter the weather climbed until Bella felt like she was being roasted alive in the metal box she sat in. Even with all the windows rolled down and the air con on, the heat made her skin prickle and tingle. Bella love it. It had been too long since she had felt heat like this. Angela and Bella were both thankful when they hit San Francisco that they had dressed ready for the hotter climate. Bella would have died if she was wearing her parker right then.

Angela looked casual in her off the shoulder butterfly top and dark shorts, delicate bejeweled sandals adorning her feet. Bella wore a old black Whitesnake shirt with the sleeves cut off, light washed, tatty and torn ripped denim shorts and her trusty fur lined lace up boots Phil had gotten her for her birthday.

They were a lot more comfortable than they looked and unlaced made the heat not a problem. Plus when she accidently kicked rocks or tripped, the things stopped her from breaking any toes or ankles, which was always a bonus in Bellas case. The last thing she wore was her large leather cuff on her right wrist, she never took it off, not because it was sentimental, but it hid the gnarly bite decorating her wrist, a memento from the thoughtful James. It was just easier to hide it than answer the question it brought when people saw it.

The funny thing was, standing side by side, people would never have guessed they knew each other let alone be friends. Angela looked like she had stepped off a catalog page and was ready for a classy beach date, Bella however, looked like she had just fought her way out of a Van Halen concert and was ready to go in for some more, head butts and all.

When the car finally came to a creaking halt by the side of the beachfront cabin, Bella could have fallen to the floor and kissed the sandy ground. The sun was just setting and the beach was cast in red and orange. In retrospect, they had made amazing time to get there when they did.

After parking the car, hauling and heaving their bags into the cabin, deciding whose bed was whose, the two flopped onto any available comfy surface, Bella took in the beach hut the two would live in for the next week.

It was studio in lay out, with a small kitchenette, leading to a few chairs in the middle and two beds lining the far off wall to the left. There was only one other room, a small bathroom with a toilet and shower. Most of the decoration was related back to the beach, with shells and blue and white being splashed around, even the wooden floor was white. It gave the whole cabin a bigger feeling that what it really was.

What Bella loved the most was the front wall, instead of a door, the whole wall was taken up with glass patio doors, letting the people inside see the perfect view of sand at their doorstep and the sea just beyond. Two heavy white curtains hung on either side for when anyone wanted privacy from the prying world just outside the glass.

Bella was resting in a cushioned recliner near the patio doors, when a shadow loomed over her. Cracking an eye open, she took in Angelas face before flicking her gaze down to what Angela held proudly in her hands. She nearly choked on her spit when she spied the large bottle of Vodka and two shot glasses.

"Angela, i expected better from the preachers daughter! I feel betrayed, you've been holding out on me this entire time?"

It was meant to be a joke, and Angela did crack a grin before her face crumbled and she plopped down onto the floor beside Bella, placing the goodies in front of her. Bella sat up from the recliner and worriedly glanced at the sullen brunette in front of her. Bella wasn't kept in suspense as Angela finally started to speak, voice low and tinged with sadness.

"I lied. Ben wasn't going to visit his grandmother. We broke up. I, uh, I caught him with another girl. It's just... I needed to get away for a bit you know? I've always been the straight A student and good preachers daughter. I just wanted to be eighteen for a little bit, forget about all the shit waiting back in Forks. Even if it's just for a week."

Bellas heart broke a little at her friends obvious hurt. She knew that feeling too well, and she would be damned if she sat by and let her go through it wallowing. Angela was right, they were both eighteen, one week of acting as such wasn't going to hurt either of them. As long as they were sensible, they could let go and party all week. After the year Bella had, she felt like they both would appreciate the chance of letting loose for a while. That was the whole point of spring break wasn't it?

Pushing herself off her chair and in front of Angela on the floor, she grabbed the bottle of Vodka, popped the lid and poured them both a shot. Sliding one over to Angela, she held hers out in front of her and clinked it to Angelas once the girl held hers up.

"Screw Ben, screw Forks. I say we go out tonight and just let go. Start at sundown and don't stop till sun up! Ready? One, two, three!"

After the countdown, both girls downed the shot in one go. Bella managed to swallow the liquid and only grimace, nose and eyes crinkling up at the sharp burn to her tongue and throat. Angela however sounded like she was coughing up a lung after she got her shot down. With a croaky voice she spoke.

"Hopefully i can get used to that by tonight. God, that's fucking awful!"

Bella chuckled as Angela thumped her chest with a closed fist in hopes of getting the Vodka down faster. Bella quite liked the heat it left behind, but Angela was right, the first hit was vile.

Angela grabbed the bottle from her and poured them both another shot. Scooting Bellas glass across the wooden floor, the Vodka splashing up the sides of the shot glass but not making it out and onto the floor. This time Angel was the one to hold up her glass for a toast and Bella good naturedly clinked hers against it, the liquid sloshing around again.

"To sand, sea, sunshine, partying all night and sleeping all day!"

Both laughed loudly, drowning out the twinkling of glass hitting glass as they downed another shot. Angela shook her head violently, long hair whipping around her as she coughed and ewwed, Bella still not managing to stop the hard grimace as the Vodka slipped down and led a fiery path into her gut.

The two of them must of made a sight. Bella with her tatty clothing, Angela decked out in pastels and soft fabrics, preachers daughter and chief of police daughter both taking shots on the floor of a beach hut as the sun set behind them, sinking lower and lower into the horizon.

Both of them clambered up and Angela grabbed her beach bag, cramming in the bottle of Vodka and some Jack Daniels Bella had no idea she had. Bella wondered off to her duffel and pulled out her leather jacket, it may have been hot all day, but she had no idea how cold it was going to get if they were going to pull an all nighter.

After packing some essentials and locking up the cabin, pocketing the keys and making sure they had everything they needed, the two set of down the beach, heading towards the large boardwalk that was already lighting up with florescent blues, reds and yellows.

Bella felt an energy swirling around her that made her twitchy, feeling like she wanted to run around, or run to something. She didn't know if it was the Vodka kicking in or Santa Carla itself, but she liked it non the less.

Laughing and joking, the two made it to the now fully lit up boardwalk entrance. Bella was vibrating with excitement with the feeling of being more free than she had ever felt before. Through the banter and talk, when the sun had finally set and they passed the entrance, Bella could have sworn she felt something watching them.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up on end, turning around, she only thought she saw a blur of blonde and curls swoosh away. Her first knee jerk reaction was Cold one and run, but she brushed it off. She put the blame on the neon lights and how fast she had snapped around, the bustling crowd didn't help matters either.

"You okay Bella?"

Bella turned back around and smiled at Angela, settling back into the good mood she had been in moments before.

"Yeah, great actually. So what we up to first? Rides? Stores? "

Angela grinned, wrapped a hand around her arm and started dragging her through the crowds.

"I've always wanted to try and get into a mosh pit. Want to see if we can crowd surf?"

Bella chuckled and let Angela lead her to the pounding Bass that was coming from somewhere. The worry that had seized her moments before totally forgotten. Tonight was a night she wasn't going to forget in a long time, she just knew it.

* * *

So that's chapter one. I hope you enjoyed it. Please favourite, follow and review if you like it! chow for now! - GoWithTheFlo20


	2. The Jacket

In the distant future, if someone, anyone, were to ask Bella Swan what happened during the first half of that night, all she could possibly tell you was it was a blur of Vodka, dancing, pushing, laughing. A swirl of continuous happiness that shaded the dark night in a mirage of smiles, chuckles and banter. That was, until someone stole her jacket.

It was Angela who came up with the idea to actually crowd surf, at first Bella had thought she was pulling her leg, but once they had been dancing for a good few hours, Angela had shouted over the pounding bass, high notes of the singer and the rumble of the crowd.

The two were smack bang in the middle of the writhing sea of people, hot and flustered from the dancing and the surrounding people. God knows how many elbows, knees and bumps Bella had taken, or inadvertently given to the people who got to close. It didn't change anything, didn't change her excitement or her all around aura of simply having a good time, a great time.

"Come on Bella! We can do it, we just need to get to the front! It can't be that hard, it happens all the time in the movies!"

Bella chuckled at the wicked gleam taking up home in Angelas dark eyes. She highly doubted anything was as easy as the movies portrayed it to be, but who was she to say no? It did sound like fun. Worse case scenario, the crowd would split before she hit them, and she ended up on the sand with shattered dignity and most likely a broken bone to accompany it. Well, the alcohol would deal with the dignity and broken bones were nothing new to Bella.

Throwing caution to the wind, like the point of this whole spring break, Bella grabbed Angelas arm, pushing and edging her way through the mass of bodies, heading straight for the neon strobe lights of the stage.

At a few points, the two girls had to stop to duck or dodge and swerve the limbs that came swinging there way, at one point nearly getting clothes lines by a obviously drugged out couple of punks. After more than a handful of near misses, nearly falling over and more that a dozen times of nearly being split up, the two teens made it to their shining destination.

The stage itself was large, wooden planked and held no fence to keep the crowd at bay. Perfect. Bella came to a halt at the edge of the crowd, trying to think of the best way to make it to the top of the risen platform, but her attempts at actually trying to order her thoughts and dampen out the roaring crowd from behind her were ceased when Angela had unhooked herself from Bellas arm, ran over to the stage, stumbling more than once, and proceeded to scramble up the stage drunkenly, almost missing her footing at one point and taking a head dive onto the unforgiving sand.

Laughing even harder at Angelas less than graceful climb, Bella jogged after her friend, grasping the top of the stage, she lifted her knee and holstered herself up with a huff of breathe. Climbing and Vodka were not a good mix, not by the way the world swam before her eyes only to settle a few moments later once Bella got her bearings.

Coming to a stand, Bella turned back to face the roves of bouncing people. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the singer only giving the girls a glance before carrying on with his number. Bella would bet this was not the first time this had happened to him, and by the small grin, he didn't give much mind to it.

Gathering her courage, and hoping the Vodka already in her bloodstream would help the pain of any broken bones, Bella thought it was now or never. Backing up a few paces, Angela following suit, giving a grin and a jerky nod to each other, they gave a whoop and ran full out for the edge of the stage.

Bellas heart pounded against her ribs like a sledge hammer as her feet left the safety of the wooden planks, spinning in the air, she flung her arms out and for a few micro seconds, she swore she was flying. The loud noise of the partying people enshrouded her, the warm breeze ruffled her nearly completely undone bun and she distantly realized she was laughing, full out no holds barred laughing. In short, she felt the most free in those precious seconds than she had in her entire life. Life in all its glory was surrounding her, coursing through her, and by god it was addictive.

Luck was on her side, as her back met grasping hands instead of rough sand. It brought her back down from where-ever her mind had gone. The next thing she knew, she was being bounced and flung towards the back of the crowd. Laughing as she went, she noticed crowd surfing actually hurt a lot more than any show or movie made it out to be, it wasn't extremely painful or anything, more like an annoying ache you can't shake off, especially when a hand dug just under her rib, making her laughter cease and for a hard grimace to take its place.

Looking around, she spotted Angela a fair few feet away from her, laughing just as she was, Angela seemed to spot her at the same time and the two girls gave each other an excited wave.

Bella was nearly at the back of the mob of dancers when it happened. During the hustle and and tugging, her jacket had already come lose, falling around her shoulders, leaving the skin bare for the wind and hands, the leather pooling around her bent elbows. She stopped laughing as soon as she saw it, her limbs grew stiff and her pounding heart froze.

The same god damned blonde curls she thought she had seen back at the boardwalk entrance were by her shoulder, shining golden in the flashing lights from the stage. All too quickly, the hair was joined by an arm, wrapped in a rather colorful patchwork jacket, prowling tiger sitting proudly on the bicep. Before she could act, before she was bounced back any further, the arm shot out and grasped her leather jacket, pulling at the same time she was bounced backwards.

Her arms joined her shoulders and slid free from the leather. When she landed once again, her jacket was nowhere in sight. Startled by the cooling breeze, and her jacket going missing, Bella looked back to the place she just was and saw the curly blonde hair long gone, along with her jacket.

Anger flared to life, burning up the happiness like it was fuel for the fire. What type of ballsy bastard steals a jacket right from someones body? Being distracted by the events, her anger only got worse when she missed her landing and ended up hitting the sand harshly with a dull thud. Her tail bone and bottom of her spine gave a spasm at the impact.

Scrambling up on her elbows into a sitting position, she dusted her hands off on her bare knees, seeing Angela coming running up to her, cheeks flushed and laughing her head off. Once Angela made it to her, she bent down and held a hand out for Bella to take. With a small tug, Bella was back on her two feet, but her annoyance and anger didn't wane, and she was having such a good time up until that point.

"Oh, that was so much fun! We have to do it again! I mean the lights, the people and the... Where's your jacket?"

Bellas cheeks reddened in anger at the reminder. It wasn't that nice of a jacket, it wasn't Armani or Gucci or even boutique. It was simple, extremely worn, leather jacket. Who the fuck would want her tatty clothing?

Suddenly Edwards face flashed before her eyes, but she adamantly shook that thought away. For a brief moment, when the hand skimmed her arm and wrapped around her jackets collar, she had felt the skin of her robber. It was warm. Not overtly so, but not the chilling iciness of a cold one. No, not every misfortune led back to them. As much as she wanted to blame them for everything. This was just some jack-ass that thought stealing a shitty jacket from her was a good idea. Little fucker.

"Some bastard stole it. Literally swiped it off my own body. I'll give it to him, he has big balls. Fuck... That was my favorite jacket, i wear it all the time."

Angelas plucked eyebrows flew to the top of her forehead, obviously not expecting that explanation of her lost jacket. Then the grin came back full force and the brunette had the audacity to laugh at Bellas pouting face. It looked like she would garner no sympathy here.

"Only you would be robbed, while crowd surfing, then give credit to the robber who did it."

Snapping out from her self pity, Bella joined in with the laughter and playfully shoved Angelas shoulder, her mood already lightening up. Luckily, her jacket held nothing of importance, her money in her jeans shorts, ID in her bra and Angelas bag holding everything else. And really, if it grew to cold, she had seen copious amounts of stalls selling leather jackets, she could always buy a new one. Still, it sucked, not even one night in and she had been robbed. She wasn't lying either when she said it was one of her favorite jackets. _So is the luck of Bella Swan_ , Bella though disparagingly.

Angela was still chuckling as she swooped her own cotton jacket off and mockingly waved it in front of Bellas face.

"Her have mine, who knows with how pale you are, the moonlight is likely to give you sunburn. Can't have that can we?"

Bella shook her head and chuckled at the well meaning jab, snatching the jacket from Angels hand, she threw it back at Angelas face, laughing harder when it actually took Angela a few seconds to untangle her head from the jacket and to peep out from the fabric.

"Fuck off Ang, not all of us can be blessed with Greek ancestors. Come on, there's more to explore and the nights just starting. And stop hogging all the Vodka, I've just been viciously robbed, have a heart."

Angela smirked, dimples prominent as she ducked her hand into her bag and brought out the bottle of dwindling Vodka, Pushing it into Bellas chest. Bella plucked up up, popped the lid and took a gulp of the fiery stuff. She had long ago stopped grimacing at the fire it causes as it went down, instead she now enjoyed the warmth it gave her.

"I lost the shot glasses in the crowd back there, looks like we're drinking from the bottle. If only Lauren and Jessica could see us now."

Bella chuckled at Angelas woeful declaration as they both made their way back to the boardwalk, skirting around the large groups of people who had splintered off from the concert.

"If only Charlie and pastor Weber could see us now, who do you think would be grounded the longest?"

Both girls cringed at the thought Bella had brought forward. Hopefully, what happened on spring break, stayed in spring break. Bella could hardly comprehend what Charlies reaction would be, and by the hard grimace of Angela, neither could she picture how her own father would react. But for once this wasn't about Charlie, wasn't about Renee or Phil, or the Cullens. This was about Bella, and she wouldn't let other peoples expectations bring her down. She was having fun god dammit.

Angela broke the silence by grinning, hooking her arm through Bellas and dragging her through the clusters of punks, goths and surfers, heading straight for the brightest part of the boardwalk, the fair ground.

"Lets see who can take the most shots while on the tea cups. First one to puke loses."

* * *

As Bella held back Angelas long hair as the poor girl heaved into the trash can, she couldn't help but feel a little bit bad for the girl. Turns out Angela is extremely bad at holding her drink and lost the bet, within two minutes of being on the spinning teacups, Angela had turned a lurid green and began that horrid retching that usually came right before the main show, vomiting your guts out. Thankfully, they had managed to climb out of the teacups and dash off the ride in record time, reaching the bin just in time.

"I'm fine, really. I think it's all out of my system. We should carry on, i- UGHHH"

Bellas cringed, her nose scrunching up as the smell hit, her head swiveled away from the still puking Angela. Angela may be in the category of more than wasted, but Bella still relatively had her head firmly on her shoulders.

The time for drinking away their sorrows were well and truly over for the night... Until tomorrow night rolled around anyway. And if anyone Bella knew deserved to get drunk off their face, it was Angela. Bella only wished she had the option of drinking after Edward left. It would have been ten times more fun than her whole zombie mode she had switched into.

"Sorry Ang, I'm cutting you off for the night. You've had more than enough and there's always tomorrow. Come on,I'm starving and i can see a Chinese, lets get something in that stomach of yours to sober you up before we head home."

Angela wobbly stood up from being hunched over the trash can, hair sticking up in odd places, swaying on her feet. Bella couldn't help but laugh at the state her closest friend had gotten into. Honestly, Bella didn't expect it to be so bad, only twenty minutes ago she seemed perfectly sober, then like a bulldozer, the drink had hit Angela and now she could barely stand. Bella would have to remember that if they drank again, Angela stayed sober until the last possible second, then went from 0 to 100 real quick.

Raising Angelas arm and ducking underneath, Bella gently wrapped Angelas arm around her neck and shoulder, helping Angela to stay upright and keep her balance, with sure steps and an arm wrapped around Angelas waist, she led Angela over to the take out place.

"NO! no, no , nuh uh! The nights just started! I can drink more. We need to party Swan! I want balloons, streamers and party poppers! I'll show that Ben i can party too! Little nasty... Shhh Bella don't tell anyone... He really is little... Baby carrot little!"

Bella tried to keep her laughter in from the drunken rambles Angela was spouting, but found it impossible to keep away the snorts and giggles. Partly dragging Angela under the neon sign of the Chinese place, it looked like everything here was neon signed, Bella managed to keep a hold on Angela, whose feet kept getting tangled up in one another. Keeping her arm around Angelas waist, she shouldered the door open, a twinkling bell announcing their arrival to the inhabitants.

"It's four in the morning Angela. We need to sober you up and get home. Tomorrow we can have balloons and poppers."

Coming to the back corner of the restaurant, with a gentle shove, Angela fell into the plastic red chair of an empty table. The girl flopped onto the table, before shooting back up and pointing a finger in Bellas general direction. Bella chuckled at the fact that Angela wasn't even meeting her eyes, instead she was looking just to the right of her, she wondered just how many Bella Swans Angela was seeing right then and there.

"Red balloons... And lots of them. Bella... Where's the Vodka gone... I swore it was just in my hand... I know, we should go on the teacups! Ughhhh... I don't feel to great."

And just like that, Angela sagged back onto the table, her head hitting the wooden surface with a loud thunk. Bella winced, that was going to hurt in the morning. Reaching over, she rubbed a hand up and down Angelas back comfortingly. She doubted the owners would be too happy if Angela decorated their walls with digested Vodka and bile.

"We ran out of Vodka an hour ago. We can do all that soon, first food okay?"

Angela gave her a stilted nod. Bella left her friend there, sprawled on the table, nearly sleeping, as she headed towards the main desk to place her order. After eventually managing to place an order for some food, Bella turned around to head back to the inebriated and passed out Angela, when she glimpsed something that made her stop dead in her tracks.

Blonde curly hair, patchwork jacket, tiger on the arm. It was the little fucker who took her jacket, and he wasn't alone. A big guy with long black hair, bare chested, and held more than a passing resemblance to the Quileutes, was sat opposite him at the far left corner, near the door. Worst of all? Her jacket, as if a prize, was laid out between them on the table for all to see.

Bella saw red. Maybe it was the alcohol, or the balls of these people, or simply being fed up of people thinking they can do what they like to her and get no come back. Whatever it was, she had enough of it, her feet were moving before she gave them the order to and as she came closer and closer, she began to pick up on their conversation.

"See, i told you she's his Dwayne! You should have come to the concert to see her when i asked you to, now who knows where the fuck she is. But no, I'm young so i was obviously mistaken and there's so many people, what are the chances, Marko can't be right because all he ever does is joke around. Well, Paul's going to lose his shit now! Where the hell is he? I've been looking for him since i managed to snatch it."

"Yeah, definitely Pauls. Shit, sorry Marko, i should have listened but i was hungry. I thought you were just pulling my leg again. Him and David are still out eating, Pauls been extra hungry lately... Makes sense now though. We need to find her, make sure before we let Paul even get a whiff about this."

What the hell were they talking about? Was this Paul guy the same size as her? Were they planning on robbing her even more? Fuck that for starters, and fuck them too while she was at it. Bella picked up speed, shouting as she stormed even closer to the pair of, what Bella guessed, were bikers.

"OI! You little dickhead! You're the one who stole my fucking jacket!"

Bella came to a sudden stop at the table, ignoring the looks she had gained from the onlookers of the restaurant. Reaching over, she ripped her jacket from the table, letting her blazing eyes settle on the two guys looking up at her.

For a tiny moment, she regretted even thinking of coming over, the little one wasn't so little up close, and the big one, well, if he decided to stand up, he would dwarf Bella for sure, he was nearly her height sitting down.

She steeled her spine and let her anger blaze even hotter. She had faced James, a nomadic insane vampire, she could face some grizzly sized assholes. The blonde, Marko, gave the raven haired one, Dwayne, a side glance, flickering his gaze back to her and flaring his nostrils at the same time.

Whatever Marko was trying to get across seemed to have worked well enough as understanding dawned on Dwaynes face, making him pin her with his stare, taking a large gulp of air through his nose. Dwaynes eyes widened slightly as he grinned toothily to an equally grinning Marko.

"Well, no need to go looking or making sure. Remind me next time to listen to you Marko. Look, we're sorry. Marko accidently ripped your jacket off, we were going to go looking for you, make sure you were the owner seen as Marko didn't get a good look at you.

Dwaynes voice was as deep as it was smooth, with that dazzling smile accompanying it, Bella was sure he would have melted any girls heart, attitude and anger. But Bella was never just any girl, the bold face lie he expected her to swallow and the execution of it only made the heat of her anger to burn even hotter.

"You can go fuck yourself if you think i buy any of that. Come near me, or my jacket again and you're going to get a steel capped boot to your left nut, understand?"

Marko had the nerve to full out laugh at her threat as he held his hand up in the universal sign of surrender, and Dwayne did no better with his rumbling chuckle. Bella was five seconds away from strangling one of them. Or both. She wasn't sure which yet, but Marko was just pipping Dwayne to the post.

"Calm down hell cat. No harm, no foul. You have your jacket and I'm sure this is one big miss understanding. Why don't you sit down, Dwayne was just about to go find our other friends."

Bella scoffed. She may have been drinking, but she hadn't completely lost her head. Sitting down with these guys, especially seen as they were planning to bring in more of them, reeked of bad decisions, wrong life choices and regret. That pet name earned them no scout points either.

"Order 237!"

Bella turned around at the chefs shout coming from the main desk, giving the guy a nod to let him know she was coming, she turned back around and eyed the two guys wearily and angrily before backing up and heading towards the paper bags on the desk holding her and Angelas food.

"Just stay the fuck away."

Spinning around and walking away, she swooped up the goodies, turned back down the isle and started towards Angela once again, jacket firmly clutched under her arm. Behind her, she could hear Marko ushering Dwayne in a hushed voice, the deadly silent onlookers the only reason she could even hear part of what they were saying.

"Go get David and Paul now... She's feisty... Stall... No... I'll wait... Watch... Follow...Quick."

The further away she got, the more garbled their speech became and more dread settled in her stomach. She couldn't pick everything up, but she knew what being followed by a group of men entailed, and this time she didn't have no pansy ass vampire to help her this time. She also had a drunken friend to take care of. Shit.

Picking up her speed, she quickly heaved a startled Angela up, leaving the restaurant/take away with an urgency in her step.

* * *

Bella sighed in relief as she helped shoulder a nearly passed out Angela into the beach hut and onto her delegated bed. The drunk in question simply flung her flip flops off, giggled, rolled over and fell straight to sleep. Bella was grateful, although the night had started out fun, it had gone down hill to fast for comfort. She needed to remember, tomorrow and for the rest of the holidays, stay the hell away from guys in gangs and try to keep her mouth shut to said guys in gangs.

Running a hand through her hair, pulling out the loose hair ties as she did so, she flickered her gaze to the muted ticking of the wall clock. It was 5:30am and sunrise would be upon them in twenty minutes. Angela was going to be so pissed in the morning, if she wasn't to busy with her hangover, over not quite making it till sunrise. Funny enough Bella felt slightly proud of herself, she had made it, her first ever all nighter. One more thing to tick of her bucket list.

Even though Bella would prefer to forget some of the events of the night, she still felt relatively happy. The night, including the bad parts, had left her with a sense of accomplishment. Plus, a drunken rambling Angela was the best thing Bella had yet to see in her relatively short life.

Chuckling, Bella made it to the still open patio door, stepping out into the night, she turned to the key hole and reached over to take the dangling keys out, getting ready to lock up and call it a night.

Just as the keys came free, Bella felt a tremendous tug to the back of her jacket, a loud tear ringing through the silence. Stumbling back a few steps, but still managing to keep her footing, she span around only to be greeted with sand and sea. Nothing out of the ordinary at all, not even foot prints in the sand.

Frantically she felt behind her, when feeling nothing, she whipped her jacket off and pulled it out in front of herself, checking the leather out. There it was, the back panel of her Jacket, at the bottom hem, a large chunk of her jacket had been ripped off, leaving frays of thread and a giant hole in the back.

"What the hell?"

Pulling her jacket down, she searched around her, even looked up to the sky, and still came up blank. Panic seized her before she could rationalize and she darted back into the house, slamming the door shut with a loud whoosh and thunk, locking up in record timing and slamming the thick drapes shut over the large patio doors.

Backing up a few steps, she tried to think things through now the adrenalin was wearing down. She could have easily ripped it on her way home, Angela had kept tugging the back of her jacket to keep balance. Yes, she most likely ripped it on her way home. Bella was sure Santa Carla didn't have a wild pack of dogs running around. The tug was just the wind picking up, or her stumbling. Nothing to worry over.

Laughing quietly she threw her jacket down the corner of her bed, plopped down on the bottom and unlaced her boots and kicked them off. Alcohol, it seemed, made her a little bit paranoid. Scooting up the bed, she flopped back, not bothering with changing, or getting under the covers. She would change and shower in the morning, when her mind wasn't racing, and it was way to hot to get under any type of blanket.

Just as her eyes were dropping shut for the very welcome oncoming slumber, a large shadow zoomed past the window. Just like that, Bella was wide awake again and staring straight at the very normal curtains, no dark mass, no shadow to be seen. Swallowing down the lump of fear, and after a few moments of watching, Bella once again flopped back down. Trick of the light was all.

It was the rising sun, she needed to sleep the drink off and maybe swear off from the liquid if this was how she got under its influence. Tossing over, she curled up and settled into the bed. But no matter what she told herself, even as slumber drifted over her, her heart pounded away loudly in her chest.

* * *

Well, There's chapter two! I hope you enjoyed it, and please leave a review :)

Next chapter- Paul finally makes an appearance!


	3. The Bike

"Great mother of mercy... I feel like an eighteen wheeler ran over my head, reversed, and ran it over again... Repeatedly."

Bella let out a chuckle at Angelas groggy confession. She was sprawled over the bathroom floor, hunched over the porcelain toilet, head resting on her folded arms which in turn were flopped over the plastic seat of the toilet. Angela was nothing short of a complete mess since she awoke. Her clothes from last night were still half hanging over her bent frame, her normally sleek and straight hair was sticking up in the oddest of places, and for once her iconic pink glasses were left on her dented pillow. Where they must have fallen off from her tossing and turning last night, or her mad dash for the toilet when her eyes finally fluttered open.

By the time Angela had come bombing into the bathroom to heave into the toilet, Bella had already showered, brushed her teeth, changed her clothes and was ready to head out once more. Both girls had slept well past acceptable hours, Bella having only been awake an hour when the small clock in the kitchenette chimed five minutes ago, singing out its six o'clock warning. Bellas best guess was that the chiming was the noise that had rankled Angela out of her indefinite sleep of the dead.

"I'm pretty sure it's less about mother Mary and more about Vodka Ang, and that drink is definitely not your friend."

Angelas shoulders caved into her form further, tensing as another bout of horrid retching racked her. Once it was out of her system, or at least under control again, Angela let out a long groan, lifted her head, bracing her sweaty forehead against her palm and gave Bella a glare through her bleary and watery eyes that didn't quite focus in on her.

"Please Bella, if we are to remain friends, never ever say the V word to me again. How is it I'm as sick as a dog, and you're all... Peachy fresh? Talk about unfair. "

Bella stood up from sitting on the bath tub/showers rim, edged around Angela and over to the small sink that housed a slightly smeared mirror above it. Shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly, Bella reached over and plucked up the discarded hair brush, beginning the arduous task of trying to untangle her main of curls. Or at least make it resemble something other than a nest a rat would find a home in.

"I have no clue. But trust me on this, by the state you're in? I'm infinitely grateful I handled it better than you, or drank less. I suppose we aren't heading out tonight then? You look like you can barely stand, let alone walk anywhere."

After the bristles of the brush gave a rather hard yank on a stubborn knot in her long locks, Bella gave up, untangled the brush from her hair and dropped it back into its place on the sink. Turning around from facing the mirror, she leant backwards until the bottom of her spine pressed against the cool wood and onto the counter, folded her arms across her chest and glanced down at a flushed and hazardous Angela.

If the girl hadn't had just been puking her guts up, Bella would have given the sullen faced brunette a tight hug. But she had, and there was no way in hell Bella was getting any closer to that mess if she wanted to keep her own stomach contents where they actually belonged.

"No, I'm going to finish up in here, brush my teeth and then head straight back to bed. That's what you're supposed to do in these situations right? Sleep the whole thing off? But you should still head out, have fun for the both of us. What happened to your jacket anyway? I saw it on your bed, it had a giant hole in it, I didn't do that did I?"

Bella glimpsed out of the open bathroom door, her bed just laying in her line of sight, and subsequently so was her jacket. To be honest, she had forgotten all about it that morning when she woke up, until she tripped on the damn thing, picked it up and got a huge reminder slapped in her face. Bella shook off the goose bumps that began their rise on her arms and the back of her neck. It was an accident, she snagged it on something, that was all.

"Nah, I think I tore it on a pole or something. Maybe even when we went onto the spinning teacups, which by the way was your bright idea. And yeah, you really do look like you could use the sleep, a good deal of it by the bags under your eyes. I need to head out anyway, that was my only jacket and I really should go buy another one. How about I go pick us up some movies and food while you get your beauty sleep, and we have a lazy day?"

Angela creakily giggled, her eyes flashing from their dreary wet look to one full of cheekiness and sass. It didn't take long for Bella to figure out why, as Angela snapped back with a jab of her own.

"Bella going shopping... For clothes?! I bet my college fund Lauren is back in Forks with her spidey senses tingling. The world must be coming to an end!"

Bella scoffed, but it came out more of a chuckle than anything else. Spinning around and back to the sink, she picked up the first thing her fingers brushed, which turned out to be Angelas tooth brush, whipping it out of its pot, Bella aimed it straight for Angelas head. Obviously with Bellas aim, she completely missed and hit the bath tub with a clang, but the sentimentality was there all the same. Strolling out of the bathroom, Bella shouted to Angela over her shoulder, only getting an even harsher laugh from Angela who was still sprawled across the linoleum flooring.

"Fuck you!"

Bella walked across the open room, heading towards the patio doors that led to the outside world. On her walk, Bella refused to give the direction of her bed a second glance, she didn't want to see her jacket laying there innocently, not when so many internal alarms were ringing inside told her it was anything but innocent. Bella reached the patio doors, slid her hand into the groove of the handle and had partially opened it when Angelas voice rang out from behind her, words broken up with the errant chuckle here and there.

"Horror films and Chinese! I want duck Chow Mein! With-"

"With no sauce but soy sauce, I know! Back in a few, get some sleep while you can."

Bella didn't wait for any more, instead she slid out and shut the door behind her. That was the best thing about Angela, there was no seriousness. Not every word was intense or held double meanings that she expected Bella to figure out, or got into a tizzy when she didn't. With Edward, she had forgotten how fun, how easy banter was between true friends. But then again, Bella never really had anything she could really class as a true friend, Angela was the first Bella would peg that label too.

Trekking across the beach to the boardwalk, Bella idly looked down at herself to make sure she was somewhat presentable. She was never going to look ready for a business meeting, but the best she could do was make sure there was no stains on her clothing before she went and mingled among people. She looked very much the same as she had yesterday, that same half assed not-quite-rocker look that just seemed to happen when she chose clothes she liked and didn't have them forced onto her like some kind of life sized, breathing Barbie doll.

Today, instead of shorts, she was dawning a pair of jeans that had seen better days. Renee would call them trash with the amount of holes that was splattered across the denim, Bella however would say they had character. Her steel capped boots were on her feet yet again, but her shirt was an old blue oyster cult one, and just like the other, had the sleeves cut of at the shoulders. Seen as she had barely been able to get the brush through her hair, Bella left it to do its own thing down, god knows what the salt air from the sea would do to it, but she would, well wouldn't in her case, worry about that later. If it got too much, she would just hack it off all together, god how that thought was tempting.

The sun was setting into the darkening sea when she made it to the part of the board walk that sold nick knacks, mementos and music memorabilia on make shift tables and racks. It also held stalls of clothing for every fashion choice. Looking around at the different racks that were dotted around the pier, Bella really had to give it to the people who worked here for innovation... Or just plain insanity. When you took it all in at once, it was a toss up between the two.

Hawaiian shirts for the surfers, or dads. Fish net gloves and tights, in classic black or the more daring and garish neon colors that could cause seizures, Bella was sure of it, for the punks or goths. Temporary, and real tattoos for the indecisive or authentic art lovers. Piercings that just screamed dubiousness to Bella. There was even a rack for selling womens two piece suits, god knows when or why anyone would buy such a thing on a pier of all places, but to each their own and the seller must have been doing okay in business, seen as a few of the hangers were empty.

"Gotcha."

Bella walked over to the rack she had been searching for, just a plain rack compared to all the others, jackets dangling from shiny metal hangers. Strolling over, Bella began Fingering through the many fabrics, she didn't pay much mind to the attendant that was watching her like a hawk, most likely worried in case Bella all of a sudden turned out to be a shop lifter and made a run for it.

Bella was giving up hope as more jackets were pushed aside to the right. She wasn't a picky person, far from it. But if it wasn't in her size, then it was a jacket that would make her look ridiculous, or would be uncomfortable to wear. Then, after sliding yet another biker jacket to the side, her fingers brushed one she stalled at. It was in her size, and it was nothing special, not really in retrospect, but it held a uniqueness that had originally caught her eye.

It was an odd mix of black leather and light denim. The torso being what looked like a denim cut off, with the arms being leather that looked hastily sowed onto the frayed arm holes of the denim. But... She liked it, she really liked it.

"How much?"

Bella slid it out of its hiding spot and flashed it at the attendant that snapped a bubble of bright pink chewing gum at her. The woman looked un-amused, with a slight hint of ridicule hinting at the corner of her eyes and down turn of her red painted lips.

"If that's the... Thing you want, $20."

Bellas jaw clenched before she smoothed her facial expression back out. Reaching into the depths of her back pocket, she plucked out her wallet deftly, snatched a twenty out and handed it over. After the bubble gum girl got the money, Bella slipped the jacket of the hanger, and feeling more boisterous then she normally did, chucked the metal hanger at the womans chest, watching amusedly as she scrambled for it and tried to keep a hold of the money at the same time. The womans limbs jerkily moving on instinct more than thought, making the woman look like she was doing a dance that resembled more than slightly that of a chicken.

"Cheers."

Bella didn't know whether she was thanking the woman for the jacket, or the small show of amusement she had inadvertently given Bella. Sliding the jacket on, Bella didn't wait for anything else and took off back down the pier and submerged herself into the crowd that was quickly growing on the boardwalk.

Wondering down and through the roaming people, Bella spotted a neon light flashing obnoxiously purple and green at intervals. Shimmying closer, as much as the crowd of people let her, Bella took a good look at the sign and what the modest sized building had to offer. Apparently, according to the smaller signs and painted words on the window, the shop boasted the best music and movie choice in the whole of Santa Carla. Thinking of getting the movie choice over and done with, Bella pushed past the passers by and made towards the shop.

Yanking the door open, a ching of a small bell ringing announced her arrival. Not paying much attention to the inhabitants, which were quiet a few given the type of shop she was in, Bella made her way over to the isles of metal lined with DVDs that had a garish sign dangling over them, stating simply FILMS.

Bella was nearly there, nearly safe and oblivious, when all of a sudden she felt a hand fall onto her shoulder heavily. She didn't know what possessed her to do what she did next, she didn't even know what she was doing before she reacted. Grabbing the hand, Bella turned around in a twirl, pulled the person closer, male by the size of his hand, and kneed in a place no man wanted to be kneed in... And she kneed hard.

A gush of air came galloping out the man, who was only a tiny bit taller than her self, and he stumbled backwards, practically bent in half at the stomach and clutching at his unmentionables. With her heart pounding in her ears, and her stomach doing acrobatic flips, Bella stared at the man she had just assaulted. Under the fluorescent lights of the shop, she automatically zoomed in on the golden curls and the gordy tiger patchwork jacket. Bella wanted to growl at the fucker for his audacity, but managed to hold back to snarled words being pressed through clenched teeth.

"I warned you! I told you if you came near me again you wouldn't be having children. You should have listened."

To be fair to Marko, he regained his composer remarkably fast, and he was back to full standing within seconds. Only this time, with his hands braced on his thighs, and still slightly bent at the waist, he wasn't as tall as he should have been. And despite her attack on his person, he still sent her a cheeky grin, but it was accompanied with a wince from his right eye.

"Ease up hell cat, I only wanted to introduce you to my friend. If this is what people get for being friendly, I'd hate to see what you would do to your enemies. Paul, hell cat, hell cat, Paul. There, I've done my civic fucking duty for the next decade, next time, when it comes, you can take the knee to your manhood."

Marko non commitedly waved his hand towards towards a figure standing next to him that Bella had not realized was there yet. But when she did, it was kind of hard to figure out why she hadn't took spotted him in the first place.

The guy, Paul according to Marko, was a good six foot to her five four. His apparel was just as odd as his friends were, with a blazer type jacket that was criss-crossed with chains, coins and buttons, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He wore white jeans, that just like hers had seen better days long past, and a torn up AC/DC shirt that showed more flesh than it actually covered of his chest and toned stomach.

But it was his face that was most striking, and his long, long wild blond hair. His features were almost cat like, not at all reminiscent of a a kitten, quite the opposite, they were more predatory, like a tigers. With stubble lining his strong jaw line, a proud nose and blue eyes that as soon as Bella glanced into, seemed to lock onto her. Then he smiled, a full smile and as if it weren't bad enough already, the giant bastard had dimples. Actual god given dimples.

Thankfully, Bella realized she was staring stupidly at the man, and snapped back into defensive mode. If she remembered right from her fractured memories of last night, this was the guy Marko had stole her jacket for. And if she was right, Marko needed his eye sight checked ASAP if he thought Paul and her were anywhere near the same size.

"My names Bella, not hell cat. Now, if you'll excuse me."

Bella pushed passed the two blocking her way and made a dash for the door, feeling too much like an idiot to care to admit. Yes Bella, stare at the people who only yesterday tried to rob you because one had great bone structure. But then Paul was in front of her again, just before she had fully reached the door, still smiling. If Bella wasn't worried before, she was definitely now. No one, absolutely no one his size should be able to move so quietly.

"Why in such a rush?"

He tilted his head slightly to the side, still grinning, as if he was a puppy wagging its tail in a friendly greeting... Right before it took a chunk out of your hand. But just like Dwayne, she didn't buy this act for a second. Something... Something she couldn't name was lurking under the surface. And the last time she had tried to dig something out of someone, it was Edward, and well, that did not turn out all that great. She wasn't willing to tempt fate for a repeat. But she also refused to let Paul know how unsettled he made her. That would give him the upper hand, and for some unknown reason, Bella thought he was the type to enjoy the feeling of unseating others.

"I'm not in a rush. I just don't want to be hanging around the people who tried to rob me yesterday, my bad."

Bella skirted around him, and grabbed the door handle, tugging it open harder than was necessary. Obviously big blonde and blue didn't get the hint, or didn't care, and followed her outside. Bella tried to push her pace faster, but Paul had the upper hand, having longer legs than her, he stalked in front of her only to turn backwards and carry on walking so he could face her at the same time, not caring for the tourists and inhabitants of the boardwalk he sent scarpering away from his tall frame. On the plus side, he did make a good wide path for Bella to freely walk in, one where she didn't have to scrabble to get through.

"About that, Marko just loves pissing tourists off. To be honest, I think he gets off on it. And seen as I'm such an outstanding citizen, I feel it's my job, no! My duty, to make up for it. So how about me and you sidle up to a little bar I know and grab a few drinks, on me, I promise."

Bella couldn't help it, really she couldn't, and she found herself faltering in her steps and coming to a stop, looking up disbelievingly, even letting a chuckle escape her lips as she eyed Paul. Was the guy for real?

"I'm sorry, but honestly does that really work? Do women actually fall for that line? "

Paul took her accidental stop in movement for invitation, and followed her actions, only instead leaning up against the plaster wall of the building they were passing. Leaning on the wall by his shoulder, he Kicked one leg over the other and crossed his arms across his broad chest. Dimples still on full show, damn him.

"More often then you would think. I take it you're not one of those times however?"

And on some level, Bella understood him perfectly. Because if the big guy had one thing going for him, apart from his looks, it was his charm. If she wasn't so on edge from last night, and wasn't as willing to put up with the bullshit that was sure to follow, she too might have been dragged into the whole facade he paraded around.

"Look, as charming as I'm sure you think you are, I have a sick room mate waiting for me back home. Her parents will be there soon, so I really need to go."

Yes half, well most of what she had said was a complete lie, but Paul didn't need to know that. If he thought people were waiting for her, maybe he would back off, try and find someone easier to lay his charms on. Bella started walking again, and had actually made it passed Paul before he spoke again, shouting out from behind her, tone purposefully sprinkled with fake sadness.

"Yeah you should get back. I mean, of course some one who is likely sleeping from being ill will definitely need your company more than poor old me. I only wanted to offer you a drink, or maybe even a bike ride, but hey, that's what I get for trying to be nice. I'll just wait here, all on my own, no pretty faces to keep me company, no one to speak to..."

In all fairness, Bella was determined to walk away. To get away from all this and not take a single glance back. But he had to mention a Bike didn't he? How long had she been waiting to try a motorbike ride out? And how had the fucker known to mention it? Biting her lip, still standing a few feet ahead of Paul, she tried to rationalize what she should do.

Was it really the smartest thing to do? To go hang out with someone she had only just met? One who was friends with the littlest robber of Santa Carla? One who was completely, and utterly disarmingly charming? No, of course it wouldn't.

But was throwing the chance of a new friendship away a good idea? Because she could really see herself becoming friends with Paul, if he stopped all that charming crap, and understood from the get go she was NOT going to sleep with him. This was spring break, and she had promised herself to let loose, and what better way than this? Maybe she would have more friends if she didn't keep pushing people away, or they weren't automatically warded off by her humor or wit. The answer? No.

Throwing caution to the wind, and promising herself only an hour, then she would head back to Angela, Bella slowly turned around and was met by Pauls white teeth and dimpled cheeks.

"I'm not sleeping with you. Ever."

Paul pushed away from the wall and with two strides was back by her side, grinning down at her. Looking all too much like the kid who got away with a cookie before dinner time.

"Of course not. It was the promise of a bike ride wasn't it? I knew you had to be a bike girl, none of that Cadillac or Bentley crap... Or I dread to think, an actual bicycle. "

Somehow they began moving forward at the same time. But Bella was more distracted with Pauls smugness, than their matched foot steps creaking along the wooden boards. When he was shoulder to shoulder to Bella, she barely piped his shoulder height. Add that to his broad frame, it made him an intimidating figure to be standing next to, let alone walking along with.

"I suppose that's you're back up pick up line isn't it?"

Paul chuckled, a deep rattle that originated somewhere in his sternum. Then, he was plucking up Bellas arm in his large palm, and leading her down a turn off point, restaurants of all cultures lining either side. As they weaved past the crowds, most parting to make room for them, something she attributed to Paul not caring about where he stood, or who he stood on.

"Don't be silly Bella, no one touches my bike. You should feel honored really."

Turning another corner, just after a Indian takeout, Bella was greeted with flickering lamp lights that shone down on a row of bikes, some chained to the rusty railing just behind them, others free of constraints and just left out in the open with the kickstand out. Bella glanced around them, trying to see which one was Pauls. She really, really hoped it wasn't that one with the shitty plastic paneling and dilapidated handles.

"An hour. That's all I can spare, then I have to get back."

Bella needed that dug in deep in the guys brain. Just in case he did turn out to be a sociopathic killer, at least she had 'warned' him, and hopefully set in caution if he decided to do her in. Unlikely, but it was still a possibility. She had already put up with James, another roaming mad man bent on torturing her was a no no. Nice bike or not.

Paul just grinned harder, left her side and strolled over to the far side of the bikes, rolling out one that was apart from the others. Either he had only just got here, or the other owners didn't want their bikes near his. And Bella couldn't blame them, the thing was a beast, large, chrome, with wide set handles. Parts of the engine were painted a vivacious red, in all, the odd but beautiful bike suited the equally bizarre and handsome man she had found herself in the company off. Had she accidently fallen down a rabbit hole? Because she was starting to feel like Alice, and strangely enough, Paul would sort of suit a top hat.

"In an hour we'll be the best of chums and you'll be begging me to come find you tomorrow. Oh Paul, please save me from my mundane life and whisk me away!"

The last of his sentence was higher pitched than his normal tone, nearly cracking at some points due to the strain of a deep voice trying to reach such a high note. Bella took it for what it was, a friendly jab. She watched as he pushed the Bike over to her, close enough away from the other bikes to safely rev up the engine, swung his leg over and kicked up the stand, nearly bouncing in his seat as he waited for Bella to climb on. Instead, she smacked him on the arm.

"Don't push it."

Paul didn't even flinch from her solid hit, instead his grin grew wider, if possible. Reaching over, he grabbed her hand and pulled her closer to the bike, helping her swing herself onto the back. After she was fully seated, he seemed to slowly drag his hand away from hers, as if reluctant to let go, but he did all the same. With a jerk of his leg, a twist of the handles, the engine roared to life, purring underneath them. Bella would be lying if she said she wasn't excited. Her thrumming veins, pounding heart and the big smile gave that much away.

She was after all ticking off one of her biggest bucket lists, and on such a pretty bike too. Before Paul launched the bike down the board walk, he turned slightly, just enough of his profile for one of his to lock onto Bellas, reached behind him and pulled her even closer to his back.

"I wouldn't dream of it."

Then they were off, and if before she thought she was flying, back on that stage when she had jumped off with Angela, she knew now what flying was truly like.

* * *

AN- I'm so sorry about the long wait for the update, but I've been ill lately and have been caught up with my other stories. I can't promise it wont happen again, but I will try to keep the updates as regular as I can. Anyway **THANKYOU** to all the reviewers! Really, you guys are the ones who keep these stories going. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and will enjoy the ones to come. - **GoWithTheFlo20**


	4. Kiss or Throttle

The bike ride... The bike ride was hard to explain in words that would do it justice. All Bella really remembered was the exhilaration, watching as the crowds of people thinned out, sand kicking up around them, dusting people who grew to close to the zooming bike, the quiet hum of the bass of a far off concert, her hair whipping around her in torrents, forcing her to squeeze in closer to Paul's broad back to stop herself from falling off when they took a corner too sharp, the bonfires of the beach flashing in orange and red blurs, the sound and smokey smell of crackling and spluttering firewood.

Absolute pure freedom. That was as close as she could get to describe it. That is what this was and Bella never wanted to travel any other way again. Not when this was an option. Now that she had an idea of what freedom and adrenalin actually tasted of on the tip of her tongue, she was determined to quench her dry and parched throat with the elixir as much as possible in the remaining time of spring break. She promised herself that. Come hell or high water, she would get that feeling back as many times as physically possible.

It was like heroine, one good dose and she was hooked for life. Maybe this is what Edward felt when he had tried to explain her scent to her back in those woods, brooding and intense and overly dramatic. If so, if this is what that remotely felt like, then could she understand his motives? Yes. But with Bella, the hunt for the thrill, the rush of adrenalin pumping through her veins, she wasn't or wouldn't be hurting anyone other than herself. The same could not be said for Edward's twisted little game he had played with her.

Now, however, Edward and freedom and adrenaline were all pushed back in her mind, instead taking center stage was the mental imagery of multiple policemen with tasers taking her down in a football tackle, followed by a lengthy stint in jail. During the ride, over the whistling of the wind dancing over the shell of her ear, Paul had told her of a museum that housed little trinkets from all the bands that had played on the boardwalk over the decades. Some even internationally known, having gigged there before the fame had hit.

When first hearing of this out of the way museum, on the other side of the woods, Bella wasn't as much on board with the plan as she thought Paul wanted her to be, until he mentioned two names. The Eagles and ZZ top. With four words, It was Bella who was urging Paul to go faster and faster instead of the other way around. When they pulled up to the medium sized whitewashed building surrounded by tall and dark woods, Paul having parked his bike next to the tree line, Bella was in for a shock.

It seems Paul forgot to give her the tiny bit of info that the museum was shut down for the week due to expansion. So Bella was greeted with blacked rooms, locked doors and no one around for miles instead of bustling tourist lines and ticket booths. Yeah, nothing important... Apart from to see the things he had baited her with, they would have to literally break into the place. She didn't know whether she wanted to kiss him or throttle the big bastard. Unfortunately for him, punching him was winning out as she watched him slide his long tailed jacket off, whip his shirt off, put the jacket back on and proceed to wrap his already tattered shirt around his wrist and hand to break through the dark window they were standing next to.

"Come on Ella, It's nothing too illegal. Think of it as clocking on in out of hours time."

Bella scoffed and glanced around her, afraid that some magical police would pop out from nowhere like a rabbit from a magician's hat. If she got caught, this being her first-time offense, surely she would get away with a caution? And, if Charlie wasn't too pissed with her for doing something so foolish, he could wiggle her out of it couldn't he? Being the daughter of a police chief had to count for something. Worst case scenario, maybe she could pull off bright orange...

"Be-La. Bella. It's two syllables, Paul. Surely even you can reach that level of speech. You must have a brain, even underneath all that hair. By the way, clocking on is for when you work there, not when you're breaking in."

"I wouldn't rag on my hair if I was you. The wind and heat have made you look like you've stuck your fingers into a socket."

Bella's hands automatically reached for her hair, grimacing when she felt the extra bounce and curls. She didn't need a mirror to realize what a state she must look, not when her fingers got tangled in and felt the extra poof to her hair. Although that must have been the moment Paul was waiting for, for while she was distracted and stopped protesting, he took his chance and took a heavy swing at the window, shattering it with one solid hit. Bella jolted and looked at him with wide eyes, only to get a cocky smirk back. Glancing around her, Bella was sure someone would jump out of the shadows with how loud the bang was and the nearly ear-splitting screech of breaking glass bouncing to the floor around them.

When no one appeared, Bella huffed and turned back around, only to find Paul already halfway into the window, balancing on the window frame, the darkness of the building nearly swallowing him up. Then with a wink, he had hopped down and was gone fully. Bella looked around her once more, eyeing up Paul's bike a few feet away from her, wondering whether she should make a dash for it.

Looking heavenwards, Bella tried to get the answer of what she should do from the twinkling stars and bright crescent moon, only to get nothing back but what could either be a shooting star or an airplane zipping across the sky. Could she really do this? Should she really do this? The fact of the matter was Bella wanted to, really wanted to. But she knew it was wrong. Very wrong. For goodness sake, her father had ground into her how important laws are since she could remember. And while she had already broken the law by underage drinking this spring break, this would be definitely stepping over that fine line of a misdemeanor to criminal intent.

"Did I tell you Ram Jam visited here in the 70's?"

Paul's voice echoed out from the building. Fuck it. Ram Jam won it. If she was going to learn to swim, she may as well chuck herself into the deep end. For once, like this break was meant to encompass, she was going to push the logical side of her incessant brain away and do whatever the hell she wanted to. And she really wanted to do this. Cautiously going over to the broken window, some shards of glass crunching underneath her boots, Bella sucked in a deep breath, mentally told herself to grow a pair and hopped into the same inky blackness Paul had disappeared into.

Only for when her feet to land on the soft carpet, a blinding white light to pierce her eyes and face. Yanking her hand up and over her tender pupils, blinking rapidly to get rid of the bright spots popping in her vision and to get the sting to go away, Bella waited for a few milliseconds before peeking through her fingers, being greeted with Paul's laughing form and a flashlight.

"You should have seen your face! Haha..."

Bella squared her shoulders back, yes, the urge to hit him had fully taken over and the urge to kiss was completely vanquished. Reaching over, she plucked the flashlight out of his hands with a muttered 'Give me that, oh great blonde wonder'. Now with the flashlight clutched in her hands, Paul's shoulders still shaking with restrained laughter as he wandered around, Bella ignored him and scanned the area.

The room was big, with only one door for exit and entrance. The walls were lined with photo's, most old and some new, some even signed in thick black marker. Dotted around the rooms walls were glass cases, holding a variety of objects. The same glass cases, only longer, or larger, or taller were standing on the floor too, dug in tightly on the threadbare and worn blue carpet. Wandering over to the wall, Bella flickered the flashlight around from picture to picture, stopping and looking at one man who was greased up, in tight neon pink trousers and playing the saxaphone.

"Bring that light over here a sec will ya?"

Bella's head swiveled, her eyes landing on the darkened form of Paul standing next to a glass case that nearly reached the ceiling, hands cupped around his eyes as he peered inside. Wondering over, Bella had to tiptoe to get a look at the same shelf Paul was bent over and looking into, eyes growing wide when she saw what had caught Paul's attention. And she didn't blame him for one second.

On a velvet cushion was a lone pic nestled into the plushness. It was a simple speckled design in blue and purple. Next to it stood a little-laminated placard, but Bella didn't need to read it to know what it was or who it used to belong to. The signature on the pic gave all that away. Buck Dharma, AKA Donald Roeser. The one and only lead guitarist and vocalist of Blue oyster cult. Blue. Oyster. Cult. Bella nearly stumbled back and landed on her backside but managed to save her pride last second.

"Shine that light on the lock for me?"

Bella tore her eyes away from the shiny pic and glanced up at Paul. When the flashlight didn't move down to the silver lock on the glass case, Paul grinned wider, jerked his head in its direction and wiggled his brows, as if trying to urge her into action. Surely he wasn't about to do what she thought he was going to do? Breaking and entering was one thing, stealing was a whole other board game. But then again... It wasn't exactly her stealing now was it? It would be Paul stealing, she would just be the accomplice. Did accomplices even get jail time?

Bella shook her head slightly to get rid of the errant thought, now was not the time to be asking herself irrelevant questions. Although she had just broke in and entered, she was still standing here when she could of very easily walked away. Paul hadn't forced her into any of this. This was all of her own violation. If it came to crunch time? Deny all knowledge and plausibility until she was blue in the face. It had worked for some serious criminals and politicians before...

With her resolve set, Bella flicked the light down to the lock and as soon as the silver metal was shined upon, Paul jumped into action. Plucking up on of the various chains that swooped across his jacket, he unclipped one of the pins and kept it open, using the pointy end as he jabbed it into the lock. Holding the corner of the large and tall case, Paul wiggled the metal pin around until a quiet click and small pop rang out. Now that her eyes had adjusted to the lack of light in the room, she could sort of see without the flashlight having to be on the target, and looking at Paul, she saw his dimples grow deeper and his grin wider as he whispered just one word.

"Bingo."

With a particularly graceful sweep of his arm, the glass door of the case swung open and all the goodies from inside were set free. However, Bella at that moment was more preoccupied with trying to keep her eyes on anything but Paul's toned chest and stomach, which had come into perfect view when he had opened the case door wide, making his jacket pull back and away from covering the skin. She wasn't and didn't want to check out Paul's abs and pecs. No, she didn't. That was what she told herself anyway, even when she felt her cheeks heat up a touch.

Thank god however that Paul didn't seem to notice this change in her, or rather gracefully and politely ignored it. She didn't think that was even an option when it came to him, for he was already letting go of the door and reaching into the case, picking out the pic they had been eyeing up, twirling it In between his fingers as he crouched, obviously looking for something else.

When he had found what he was looking for, he came away from the case, turning his back to it as he held both the pic and some sort of long leather cord. Within seconds, his long nimble fingers had already tied the cord around the pic like you would do to a sharks tooth in a shark tooth neckless, and before Bella could protest or utter a single word, he was bouncing behind her and wrapping the now pic necklace around her neck and tying it off, flinging her hair free from underneath with a dramatic flick of his hand.

"Ta-da!"

Slowly Glancing down, Bella gingerly picked the pic hanging on her chest up, running the pad of her thumb over the cool and smooth metal, biting her lip. Yes, it was stolen, yes, it wasn't technically hers and yes, nearly everything she had done since she met Paul had been illegal from riding without a helmet to physical assault on Marko, breaking and entering to now stealing. But if in all honesty, it was the nicest thing anyone had ever given her. The most personal too.

The rare gifts she got off her parents were normally school supplies, and while the Cullen's had showered her with gifts on her birthday, all of them had been about themselves. From the expensive dresses and shoes, they knew Bella would never wear to Edward showcasing his own talent by writing her a classical lullaby. Bella hated classical music and Edward had known that too. This, however, even if stolen, Paul had only had her in mind, not himself or anyone else. Bella sort of felt like crying. But she wasn't quite willing to let herself sink that low, not in front of Paul anyhow.

Glancing up at Paul and dropping the pic back down into place in between her breast, Bella coughed slightly into her clenched fist and squared her shoulders. She was already in this deep, how much more trouble would she get into if she dug herself a little further if only to repay Paul somehow for his gift?

"Grab my waist."

Paul's eyes widened as his head tilted to the side, scanning Bella up and down. Within a second, his eyes became more cat-like, his grin somehow more snarky yet cheeky at the same time, his voice a bit gruffer as he spoke. By that point Bella had known she had used the wrong wording as he leaned against the open case by his raised elbow, teeth glinting despite the lack of lighting.

"Well, If I had known you would be this thankful, I would have broken in here a lot sooner. How about-"

Bella cut him off before he could say something to ruin the night or any kind of emotions she was starting to attach to him. And really, she had walked straight into that one.

"Not like that, so get that out of your mind. I mean grab my waist so you can lift me up and I can get to the higher shelves in that case. I've seen something."

Paul pulled himself away from the case and shuffled over, grumbling something that sounded very much like 'Tease'. Bella didn't have time to ponder it for as soon as he came to her side, he bent down but instead of going for her waist, he bent lower and wrapped an arm around the bottom of her thighs, near where they joined her knees and in one jolting movement, Bella was airborne and partially sitting on Paul's broad shoulder. The flashlight nearly went tumbling to the floor in her shock, but luckily she managed to scramble for it at last second and keep it in her grasp. From the sly grin Paul sent up at her, craning his neck up to look at her face, she knew he knew exactly what he was doing.

Before she could whack him solidly over the head with the flashlight, they were moving closer to the case and Bella was peering down at the top shelves. First things first were to make sure she didn't embarrass herself any further than she already had, and as grievous as she was to do it, that meant covering up Paul's torso. God forbid if he found out what effect that had on her, she would never live it down and she doubted he would ever let it go. When it came to Paul, she had a feeling he was like a dog with a bone. Relentless.

Scouring over the top shelves, barely looking at the thing that had originally caught her eye that she was planning on giving Paul, Bella found what she needed and pulled it off the shelf, handing it to Paul.

"First things first, Put that on. You're going to give the grannies at the boardwalk a heart attack when we get back.

Paul, using one hand because the other was wrapped around Bella's thighs, keeping her secure, flipped open the fabric and eyed it, even going as far as turning it around to look at the back, looking up at her incredulously with one eyebrow raised when he saw what it was.

"And a mesh shirt won't?"

"Not as much as you running around bare chested would."

"So you've been looking have you? Enough to think that the sight would give little old women heart failure? And mesh Bella? If you really want to keep me still partially naked, all you have to do is ask. I'm sure I can loose my jacket too if given the right incentive..."

Bella couldn't help it, she laughed and laughed hard. You could tell Paul he was ugly as dog shit and somehow, without a doubt, he would turn that into a compliment.

"How about the incentive be to stop before I see how hard I can hit you with this flashlight?"

"If that's the type of kinky games you like to play, I'm willing to go along."

Bella refused to answer him, knowing whatever she said, be it scripture from the holy bible, he would somehow twist it around and make her blush even harder than she already was. Instead, she reached back into the case and plucked up the frame holding her prize prisoner. With a tap on Paul's shoulder, he gently lowered her back to her feet, and once on the ground, Bella began to open the frame up as Paul shimmied out of his jacket and into the mesh shirt. Bella kept her eyes firmly on the frame, even if a few times she found them trying to wonder up and over to him.

Once the fabric was free from the frame, Bella held it tautly in her hands as Paul eyed her, eyes going wide when he clocked the picture and signature in the frame she had discarded back into the case haphazardly.

"You're going to have to bend down if I'm ever going to get this on your forehead."

This this time Paul did so without any remarks or cheeky rebuff, and once Bella could reach she wrapped the bandana around his forehead and tied it securely at the back, having to edge closer to Paul 's face to reach around it, feeling his breath on her cheek. It wasn't that pretty of a bandana, simple red that in surprising clarity, Bella realized matched his bike perfectly, with little black stars printed in. It was who the bandana belonged to once upon a time that was what had managed to stall Paul 's tongue momentarily. A little miracle all on its own. The bandana used to belong to Axel Rose, from back in the day, before Guns and Roses got famous and they had pit stopped at Santa Carla. It even had his signature in permanent ink on the back of the wrap of fabric.

Once it was on tightly, Bella grew flustered when she realized how close their faces were, how she could feel the heat of Paul's breath inch and flutter across her cheek, and stumbled back in her haste to back up.

With one wrong footing, the back of Bella's boot, her heel, knocked into the low riding case behind her, causing her to fling her hand backward and onto the case to keep her balance, having no time to look back to see if there was space for her to do so. Unfortunately, there wasn't as some idiotic worker had placed a vase on the small case, Bella's arm and hand ending up sweeping it straight off the case and head first to the floor, the tacky vase filled with plastic flowers breaking on impact. After abated breath, Bella, and Paul, by the way his head snapped to the direction of the door of the room, heard footsteps followed by a male voice ringing out as he came closer to the room, obviously about to come in and spot two people who shouldn't be there.

"OI! Anyone back there? It better not be you kids again!"

Bella stalled like a deer in headlights, frozen to the spot mind whirling with what she should or shouldn't do. She couldn't very well dive and hide behind one of the cases, they were made of fucking glass! Shit! Thankfully, Paul wasn't suffering from the same reaction as Bella and he skidded over, plucked her up like she was some kind of child and jogged over to the window, ushering her through the frame and back out into the world outside.

"Head to the bike, I'll meet you there after I give this guy a bit of a chase to get him off our tail."

"Yeah... Don't get arrested. I won't come and bail you out of jail."

It wasn't the nicest thing to say, but the footsteps were growing clearer, which meant closer. But it was all her mind could come up with, it was the closest she could bring herself to say to tell him to be careful. Bella was never one for speaking about her emotions, or adequately telling people how she felt, it just wasn't in her DNA. By the glint of his blue eyes and twist of his lips, Bella thought he got her real message loud and clear. Just as the door of the room rattled, Paul nodded in the bike's direction and Bella scrambled up, with one last glance over her shoulder to Paul, she dashed for the bike.

With her heart pounding erratically in her chest, so hard she could have sworn you could see it beating through her rib cage and skin, Bella slid to a stop next to Paul's beast of a motorbike. Glancing behind her, hair whipping around her by the force, Bella made sure no one was running up and got onto the back of Paul's bike, readying for when he come out so they could get the hell away as fast as humanly possible. With every minute that passed, Bella's heart shocked her by being able to pick up pace when she thought it was about to give out and when five minutes past, Bella was about to heave herself off from the bike and search for Paul, refusing to ditch him or leave him alone to take all the blame, when something coming around the building caught her eye and causing her to freeze.

Bella sagged in relief when she caught a glimpse of white jeans and dirty black and brown boots creep out from the side of the building in rushed footsteps. As Paul grew closer, Bella's relief started to sour, turning to apprehension and caution. When he drew close enough to hear her voice without her having to shout, in hopes of not giving away their spot to the security guard that was surely still lurking somewhere looking for them, Bella spoke, half rambling.

"You okay?"

Paul looked confused at her question, even going as far as looking down at himself, patting his chest and jacket as if searching for an injury he couldn't feel. Bella waited until he glanced at her once more after searching over himself and pointed to her own chin, indicating exactly where he should have been looking, not trusting her own voice. Running down his chin, in a thin but clear stripe was a rivulet of crimson blood, almost dripping off his chin. Paul dabbed his hand on his chin, pulling it away to see the blood staining his fingers and then proceeded to scrub it away from his mouth and chin with the back of his hand, chuckling heartily as he spoke.

"I took a wrong corner when I was trying to run for it. Ended up ramming face first into a locked door and bit my lip. Didn't think it was hard enough to cause me to bleed. But we need to get the hell out of dodge, the security guard wasn't far behind me."

Near the end of his explanation, Paul was already holding onto the handlebars of his bike, swinging one leg over the bike, sliding into place in front of Bella. He revved the engine and then they were off once again with a kick of the kickstand. The building fading behind them, the only clues they were the ones that had ever been there being the pic around Bella's neck and the bandana wrapped snuggly around Paul's wild hair and forehead.

* * *

"Turn left. Yeah... Just here, this one."

As the bike came to a rumbling stop, Bella hopped off and headed towards the door of the beach hut she and Angela had taken up residence in, a bit worried about the hungover girl because she said she would be back soon after picking up a movie and some food. That was three hours ago, god knows what Angela was thinking about Bella's disappearing act.

Sliding the door open, peeking her head in and scanning the dark room, hearing Paul's footsteps echoing behind her, Bella searched for Angela. It would seem she had nothing to worry about as her friend was still curled up on her side on the bed, fast asleep, little snores breaking up the silence.

"See, everything fine. She's still sleeping and likely has been the entire time. Now if the police come knocking, you have an alibi. You were looking after your sick friend, how saintly of you."

Bella turned to face the towering man beside her, having heard him walk but not sneak up on her. He was leaning over her shoulder, looking into the beach hut very much like she was. Bella grinned up at him.

"Talking about alibis, I'll have to be here when they come. So I guess this is good night..."

Bella edged into the dark hut, speaking quietly to stop Angela from waking up, turning around to face Paul only to find he had invited himself in and was looking all around the open planned space, ending up in the kitchen and pulling open draws, ruffling through their contents, picking up the odd thing here and there, taking a closer look only to shove them back in their dark home and moving onto the next draw.

"Doesn't have to be. Come on Ella, it's barely past eleven. You can't be seriously going to sleep now? You've checked on your friend and can see she's fine. Come back out with me, there's still a shit ton to see around the boardwalk and the night's still young."

Bella glanced behind her, taking in the steadily breathing form of Angela wrapped up in her blankets, fast asleep. The offer was tempting, more than tempting really. As reckless as she had been over the last few hours, she also had more fun than she ever had before. What else would Paul drag her into if she agreed? And really, if she stayed, what would she be doing other then sitting down and watching Angela sleep, because she was too strung, like a copper cord with volts upon volts of electric running through it to even rest her eyes, let alone go to sleep right now.

Bella was about to say fuck it and agree, when she turned around, Paul right behind her holding a pen and wad of crumpled paper, seemingly reading her mind about leaving Angela a note to let the brunette know she was alright if she woke up while she was gone. If she carried on spending time with him, she was going to have to put a bell on him or something. One of these times she was sure she would suffer from heart failure if he kept sneaking about.

"I'm not breaking and entering again Paul."

Bella scoffed even as she reached up and swiped the pen and paper from him, scribbling a small note for Angela that just told her the basics. Obviously leaving out she had turned to a criminal lifestyle. As down as Angela was with drinking, Bella didn't think the preachers daughter would have the same outlook on down right robbery. Best she save that tid bit for when Angela was either drunk again, or wide awake and not hungover.

"Please, of course, there'll be no breaking in. I mean, you were technically the one who stole the most. So really, I'm the good boy here. You're the one who led me into the distasteful life of a criminal. Now I'll never get into the choir, my hopes and dreams dashed in one night all by a pretty lady with long legs. For shame Bella, for shame."

Bella laughed but quickly pushed it down to a muted giggle when she heard Angela turn over in her bed, still asleep but obviously disturbed by the noise.

"Yeah because the first thing people think when they see your tall ass approaching is virtue and innocence. Pull the other one Paul."

Bella tiptoed over to the nightstand in between the two beds, her boots squeaking on the hardwood flooring, gently placing the note next to Angela's glasses where the brunette was sure to find it. When she turned back around, Paul was wiggling his eyebrow's again, cheeky grin spreading for miles, practically glowing.

"I'd rather have you pull it for me..."

"I'm not so good at pulling, but kicking? Kicking I'm great at. Just ask Marko."

Paul's grin dropped and turned into a wince as he tensed slightly. Now it was Bella's turn for finding hilarity in his discomfort.

"Note taken. Now come one! We're burning up moonlight and I know just the place to take you next!"

And as Bella got to the middle of the hut, heading back for the door, Paul tried to quicken her steps by ushering her through the door, as if she was a sheep being herded and Paul was the god damned shepherd.

"I swear, If there's a security guard or a trespassing sign, you're going to lose a limb Blondey."

"I promise there're no security guards... Trespassing sign, however..."

And as they left back through the door, it sliding shut with a quiet whoosh, muffling the sound of the hit to Paul's arm and their back and forth banter, Angela's eyes fluttered open with a disgruntled groan as the sound of a motorbike revving woke her up.

* * *

The sunlight creaked and careened over the landscape of Santa Carla as morning came lazily but surely. A plump middle-aged woman, eyes red and swollen from a full night of no sleep and crying, reached into her handbag and pulled out one of the various folded pieces of paper she was dragging around with her. Unfolding the piece of paper, the woman used one of the free pins to pin it to the crowded and paper filled board, lovingly straightening out the crinkles in the paper. She refused to look at all the other posters, too many to count, that were nearly exactly the same as her own. She had to hope, had to believe. Her Teddy was out there somewhere, he was just lost or didn't have his car to drive home in.

With one last loving and teary-eyed glance at the poster, the woman hitched her leather handbag up her shoulder higher and took off, she had more posters to hang up around town. On the plain white piece of paper was a black and white photo of a middle-aged man, dressed in his security uniform. Like his wife, he was plump and red-faced, but unlike his wife, he was smiling broadly at the camera. Underneath the photo in plain new roman writing stood his name, contact info and where he had last been seen, along any other details that might help find the missing man.

Theodore Woodson  
46  
Security guard for the Gibson Company  
 _Last seen at Santa Carla's Musical Museum..._

* * *

A.N: I'm so glad I got this finished. If there're any spelling mistakes, I'm sorry but I had this all written and sorted out, ready to go, when my computer crashed while it was open. I don't know how, but when I re-opened it, everything was missing. Literally everything, not a single word or full stop in sight. I very nearly threw my laptop out the window. Thankfully after a breather, I've honestly never been so angry in my life, instead of putting it off and leaving it for a week like a was planning to do after said disaster, I re-wrote it all today. And trust me, that was not an easy task. So if you do spot a mistake, I'm sorry, but I thought you guys might want an update sooner with a mistake here or there, rather than one a week late, after all, this story hasn't been updated for quite a while as it is.

On to better news, if you guy's read my other lost boys stories, then either Monday or Tuesday my Marko/Bella fic is finally starting. I just need to double check it. It will be called **This is our sin** , so keep an eye out for that, if it's something you fancy reading. Just to be clear, **This Is Our Sin** WILL be slightly darker from the get go than the rest, while these ones grow darker, my Marko story just demanded to be that way from the starting line, and let's be honest, this IS Marko we're dealing with so I sort of think it fits.

My Dwayne and Bella fic called **My Shangri-La** has been updated yesterday. The re-write of **Cry Little Sister** which is David/Bella should be out middle of next week too and maybe a one shot to my **Blood ties collection** if you read that. However, if you are simply wondering when this fic will next be updated, that should be next Sunday.

I know I haven't been the best at updates lately, but life got in the way. So thank you to everyone who has been patiently waiting, I know how annoying it is, and thankfully I should be updating all Lost boys stories regularly for at least the next few months.

A **HUGE THANK YOU** to everyone who favorited, followed and reviewed. You are the people who keep me writing, honestly. If you're feeling generous please leave a review. As always, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and will equally enjoy the ones to follow, until next time- **GoWithTheFlo20**


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